Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 02/10/2010 8:40:56 PM PST by Nachum
NEW YORK - One of every five U.S. homeowners owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth in the fourth quarter, a trend that poses a serious threat to the U.S. housing market's recovery, real estate Web site Zillow.com said on Wednesday.
Homeowners with "underwater'' mortgages are more prone to defaults and foreclosures. They typically do not qualify for refinancings and are unable to sell their homes because they would need to cough up cash at closing time to pay off their mortgage.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
That doesn’t mean they’re in their pool.
there is still hope, four out of five ARE NOT. It will not get better til we get rid of these corrupt government selected officials.
It only matters if you have to sell.
They must be wealthy enough to afford SCUBA systems for 24x7x365.
Bush’s fault.
In Florida it seems like it could be more than 1 out of 5. I know lots of young couples underwater on their mortgages, just because they happened to buy in the 2005-2006 period when prices were skyrocketing. Even if you bought with 20 percent down, after watching house values plunge around 40 percent...you’re underwater. None of those I know are in financial problems, however. they are still able to afford their mortgage. But it feels to them like they’re shoveling money in a hole because they don’t believe they’ll be “above water” anytime soon.
But slowly, over time many of these folks will need to sell. Death, bankruptcy, divorce..all will cause a forced sale. These forced sales will continue to keep prices down..for a long time.
Global Warming!
I am underwater as many Arizonans are. Thankfully not in financial trouble but there’s always the nuclear option. Hopefully I will never have to use it.
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Not so fast!
I’m underwater also...
Because the bank compared my home to a couple of wrecks within a 1/4 mile that are for sale, not sold!
I’m fine and will not give up until I have to!
My daughter and hubby bought in 2007 when prices were headed down. Unfortunately, they continued down drastically more. They put $20K down and right now they are still just over $100K upside down. They can make the payments, but my son in law is being transfered out of the area. They can’t sell and can’t rent it for the payments. What the hell do they do?
If your daughter and son in law live in a state with no recourse laws, such as Arizona, they walk away. It will hit their credit score for a few years and after that they’ll be fine. Housing prices are going to continue to drop anyway.
Report: 1 in 5 U.S. homeowners underwater
That headline is a lie.
1 in 5 homes with a mortgage may be underwater, but there are a whole lot of homes with no mortgage that are owned free and clear.
Last clear number I could find was 38% have no mortgage
so that number should be 1 in 9. Still not good but not 1 in 5. Question everything.
oops 1 in 7 or 8 is closer never did like math
Walk away!
My son and dil got talked into a BS deal by dil parents against my protestations.
Turned out that the deal was to help her parents friends, not the kids.
My son is going to get beat up, but they had to so they could save their marriage!
They will be fine when the dust settles...I HOPE!
The numbers I’ve seen are double that ... they may have fudged things by taking a percentage of all homes ,, about half of all US homes are paid off.
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